The Moons of Vaelmorh (eng)

Prologue

The Moons of Vaelmorh - by Fao C. Ashbourne

PROLOGUE

No one remembers the time anymore when magic and iron walked side-by-side on the same land. 

It is said that back then, the nights were lit by two moons, and that the Witches, called the Daughters of the Night, ruled the elements with the mere force of thought. They did not live on the fringes of the world but were its beating heart: healers, warriors, silent judges of fate. Men feared them, yet sought their protection, like those who fear the storm but long for the rain. 

But then came a king who could not distinguish love from power. He married a witch of the ancient blood, a woman who could change the tides and bend the light. And when the king sought to bind her magic to him with the oath of the flesh, the enchantment broke. From their union, only ruin was born: the castle turned to ash, and the queen, dying, uttered words that the winds echoed as a curse.

"A daughter shall be born of my lineage, she will not know her name nor her destiny, but when the power reawakens, men shall fall and magic shall reign again." 

The prophecy spread like a plague. The king, maddened by fear, exterminated many magical houses, had their towers torn down, and the world split in two: to the north, the realms of men and their stone houses; to the south, the veiled lands of the witches, where the sky still holds the color of the blaze. 

Vaelmorh was a vast continent that knew the smell of blood after three hundred years of peace, where swords and magic, once sisters, turned against each other. 

Since then, the two moons have not appeared together. Yet, on certain nights, when the wind blows from the north, a black raven flies over the old kingdom. It is said to be searching for someone. Someone who does not yet know who they are.